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This Arab passport is officially the most powerful in the world

Posted on Tuesday, December 04, 2018 by Willis Stokes

World by Dawood Rehman | Published

Passport Index, which keeps track of how useable such documents are, said the Middle Eastern state grabbed the top spot after four more countries were added to its list of visa-free destinations from December 1.

The UAE passport holder can now travel to 167 countries without the need for pre-visa requirements, which is 84 per cent of the number of countries listed in the index.

The UAE has overtaken Singapore and Germany as the country with the world's most powerful passport.

The UAE passport is ranked as the strongest passport in the world, as it allows visa-free travel to 113 countries and visa on arrival to 54 countries. Taiwan's passport holders may visit up to 131 countries without having to obtain a visa, an increase of 10 from previous year.

It's been a steep rise to the top of the list as previous year the UAE didn't even feature in the top ten.

It has raced up the passport ranking - past year it didn't even feature in the top ten.

According to its website, Arton Capital is a financial advisory firm that "empowers high net worth individuals and families to become global citizens by investing in a second residence or citizenship".

Dubai leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum welcomed the news, tweeting: 'Congratulations to the UAE and its people and big thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation's teams'.

There are eight countries for which Pakistanis do not need a visa for and 27 that offer a visa on arrival.

Its Passport Index bases power rankings on the cross-border access granted by each passport. Belgium, Austria, Japan, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland and Canada and United Kingdom 5. Syrian passports, which are fourth to last, guarantees visa-free travel to only 9 countries. Iraq and Afghanistan are the two countries which rank lower than Pakistan. India ranks 67, with visa-free access to 23 countries, and visa-on-arrival in 41 countries.

The Passport Index ranks the United Nations' 193 member countries and six additional territories taking data from publicly available sources and government agencies.